Life in Orange County
Tips for potty training kids
This is part of a compensated campaign with Latina Mom Bloggers and Pull-Ups. However, all opinions expressed are my own.
I’ve mentioned before how we’re in the very beginning stages of potty training. In this stage, my baby has been waking up and going pee in the toilet every morning for months now with my guidance.
Unfortunately, besides morning time and going poop, this is the extent of him using his new Mickey Mouse potty seat and fun Pull-Ups wipes in the Cars container. Maybe he’s not truly ready for potty training, or maybe I just don’t know how to read the signs. Regardless, I had to turn to the experts and ask them the hard questions and accept all the tips that they had. In this case, the experts were Dr. Andres Cotton and Jeannette Kaplun.
I had the opportunity to be on a conference call with Dr. Andres Cotton and Jeannette Kaplun and other mamis that are going through the potty training stage with their kids. My biggest take away was the importance of making potty training a family affair and how I can do this by sharing the potty training tips with other family members (dad, abuela, aunt, tio, los primos). I also learned how to share with others how we’re trying to use more training pants, the process of asking him if he needs to go pee and the fun rituals that make sticking with the process easier, like blowing noise makers, doing a little dance, etc.
One concern of mine was teaching my kids how to properly wipe. I have a 5 year old who goes through a lot of wipes. Jeannette Kaplun mentioned that boys are a little easier although there is a certain structure that you have to maneuver and I can definitely vouch for that. Everything is foreign to me when it comes to potty training a boy.
She also mentioned that girls are harder to teach over boys so you have to have patience. She suggests using a lot of flushable wipes because the texture, at times, helps the child clean themselves better. For girls, moms should always remember to tech them to clean from front to back ever since you start the potty training.
Dr. Cotton spoke about toilet paper. He mentioned that it was just as important to teach kids to nicely fold the toilet paper because most children crumple up the paper and that brings in a lot of bacteria. I’m stashing that tip in my head because I never thought about bacteria in crumpled paper.
One major concern that I was glad they addressed was what to do when the kid is not truly verbal (as in, they understand direction and communicates with gestures and grunts, but doesn’t actually speak). Dr. Cotton responded that if the child has a problem speaking, and he/she is 3-years-old and does not speak, but they can pull down their underwear and pee on their own, then they are ready. To be able to talk is not necessarily needed as long as they use some type of communication to show that they are ready. You also have to pay attention to your child because every child is unique; therefore, if you see that your child cannot speak yet they go to the restroom, then they are ready. So with this response, I’m somewhat ready to accept that maybe my kid isn’t really ready to potty train. Light bulb moment, and it takes a lot of the stress away.
We were also directed to use resources and tools, such as the Pull-Ups Big Kid App, to help with potty training. I’ve been using the app and it’s fun to use! Have you used it yet?
Originally published on March 23, 2013. Last Updated on January 2, 2019 by Pattie Cordova